Former Sun Devil soccer teammates and current friends met up for a friendly, but competitive game of soccer in typical blistering Arizona afternoon temperatures as the current team beat the alumni 7-2 Saturday.
“I love seeing them,” head coach Kevin Boyd said. “We love seeing them coming back and being proud Sun Devils, and being a part of our program still is what we want. We are going to try and work and get some of the older generation of alumni, in terms of the ones from the early years, trying to get them here regularly, but we thought our turnout today was outstanding, and we want to keep building on that.”
Boyd wasn't the only one happy to reunite with old friends.
“I loved it,” junior forward Cali Farquharson said. “It brought back so many memories. It was like freshman year all over again with all these older people. I loved it. I love them.”
The current Sun Devils would start out strong, mounting an aggressive offense, which would get multiple shot opportunities in the first five minutes, peppering former goalie Chandler Morris with shots, none of which would find the back of the net.
Sophomore defender Larisa Staub would score the first goal of the game, putting the current team up 1-0 in the 6th minute.
It would be almost 30 minutes before the current team would score again, but they would eventually find the back of the net in the 33rd minute. Junior midfielder Christina Rebata would score another goal for the current team shortly after, putting the current Sun Devil team up 3-0 at halftime.
Rebata would score her second goal of the game at the 56-minute mark, extending the team’s lead to four. The alumni team would finally score a goal minutes afterwards, with attacker Courtney Tinnin finding the back of the net.
“I thought the goal that the alumni got in the second half there, that was a good one," Boyd said. "They just roped one across. Tinnin was at the back post and just tucked it away, and I thought it was a really good goal. At the end of it, our alumni, there are many of them who are outstanding players still to this day. To play against a group of them like that, with 24 of them back, it was really nice. They are going to get there chances as well, they're just too good not to.”
Farquharson, junior midfielder Tommi Goodman and Staub would all get multiple accurate shots off in quick succession, but nothing would go in. The team would break the streak when one shot finally made it past the goalkeeper, extending the lead to 5-1.
Goodman scored her own goal, firing a shot off from near midfield as the alumni goalie was caught off guard, and the ball flew into the empty net, extending the score to 6-1.
With time running out, Farquharson would score her only goal of the game on a fast break, where she would have only the goalie to beat, effortlessly finding the back of the net.
“I think that the way that we play is becoming very clear,” Boyd said. “We know who we are and what we are trying to do, and I thought we came out and did exactly that. And to add to our talent, we are fit, we are always going to cause people problems.”
With less than five minutes remaining in the game, the entire bench of the alumni team came onto the field, giving them a six-player advantage over the current Sun Devil team. Because of this advantage, the alumni were able to score one last goal to end the game.
“They did have sixteen on the field there at the end, so its difficult to prevent any goals when they are doing things like that.” Boyd said.
Farquharson has a different opinion.
“I think the 7-2 statement is pretty good, but they shouldn't have gotten two goals, it should be 7-0,” Farquharson said. “No goals allowed. Even if they bring their whole team on, it should still be zero.”
Both teams would come together for multiple group pictures at the conclusion of the game.
“It’s always interesting when you are playing the alumni because they give you a different experience,” said head coach Kevin Boyd. “So am I happy? Absolutely. Our team did what we needed to do, we changed shape a couple times which we've been working on all spring. We had a couple players play great today, thats for sure. As a whole I think the current squad did well.”
With the 7-2 win comes bragging rights for the current squad.
“On a scale of 1-10 I think we earned the right to brag at 10,” Farquharson said. “I mean we are supposed to win. Some of them haven't played in forever.”
“It’s all about my team,” Staub said. “We’ve been working really hard this spring, so it’s all on them. The old team was good competition for us, but obviously it was to just have a good time out there. They are a good group. They made it fun. I had a lot of fun out there.”
Boyd thinks that the game was a huge success.
“The day as a whole was really competitive for both squads,” Boyd said. “I think both groups had great moments, and I think the way both teams took it was the proper way. They played hard, but they were really laughing and having fun and enjoying themselves.”
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @MarcTSteiner
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